Duality
by MusicFiend666
Summary: One-shot for StormDragon666 Things are not always what they seem, and some must learn the hard way. Rated for gore


Well, my computer is more or less back in working order, so, I'm writing a new one-shot! This story is for StormDragon666's contest, and I hope the end product is satisfactory. I had a lot of trouble figuring out a concept for 'visiting a new place', but I think I did an alright job :) Please enjoy, and don't hesitate to flame if you feel the need to; I always enjoy reading feedback, negative or otherwise.

I hereby deny claim to _Naruto_, any characters from the series, and any concepts I may have used in my portrayal of certain characters and/or species. They belong to their respective authors, or, have been around and used by so many authors that I am unable to cite a single source in it's creation.

This story is rated for gore, language, and possible disturbing content near the end.

* * *

She awoke at dawn, the sunlight barely creeping along the skyline, too awake to fall back asleep, but too asleep to do anything truly productive. Sakura slowly crept out of bed, her feet hitting the cool, wooden floor with a muted thud as she dragged herself over to her kitchen. She walked over to her coffee-maker, a pot of coffee already brewed. This hadn't been the first time this week that she had awoken early, and, with her deadline approaching, it wouldn't be her last. She yawned, grabbing a pullover and slipping it over her head, then grabbing her messenger bag and slinging it over her shoulder. She grabbed her coffee, filling it with sugar and taking a scorching sip before grabbing a ratty pair of sneakers and walking out the door.

The streets were deserted, and Sakura took a moment to savor the silence as she continued walking down the street, her destination a few blocks over. She calmly sipped her coffee as she walked, her shoes against faded pavement the only sound. She was fortunate, she supposed, that she lived in such a quiet town, else her work would be even harder to complete; it was difficult enough without having other voices breaking her composure.

She arrived at the park entrance without issue, and she found a bench, away from the playground, and far enough away from the forest that covered most of the grounds. She put down her coffee, and pulled a notebook and pencil out of her bag, and began doodling. The doodles eventually transformed into words, and she continued writing furiously, words pouring out onto her and onto the page haphazardly. So engrossed in her work, she failed to notice someone approaching her.

"Um, miss?" Sakura started, violently jumping in her seat and sending her now cold coffee to the ground, her pencil slipping from her fingers as she looked up. A pair of large brown eyes staring at her from a small, cherubic face. It was a small blond boy, a child, perhaps seven, and he was staring at her in shock.

"Oh!...Hi, What's your name?" Sakura said, putting down her notebook and staring down at the young boy. She realized, with a start, that the sun now stood high above her, and the park was no longer empty. She bent down next to the boy, carefully maneuvering around her coffee spill, and staring at him. "Do you need some help?" The boy paused, then nodded shyly.

"I'm..I can't find my- he was just here a second ago, and- the woods! Can you?" The boy was babbling, clearly too panicked to tell her the problem, so he grabbed Sakura's hand and began tugging her towards the trees that sat at the edge of the park. Sakura quickly grabbed her bag and notebook and began pulling her bag closed and swinging it onto her shoulder.

" Wait! Where are we going?" Sakura yelped, startled by the grip the boy had on her wrist. He continued to drag her towards the forest, mumbling as he walked. Sakura stuggled to hear what he was saying, but the strange boy was too quiet to hear. The duo went unnoticed by the rest of the visitors, as the trees swallowed the two into the shadows. They seemed to block all sunlight, the dark leaves lining the floor as they were crushed underfoot. Suddenly, the young boy let go of her hand, running off ahead of Sakura and leaving her alone. " Ah, wait!" she shouted after him, but the boy was out of sight. She began running in the direction the boy went, hoping she could find him before he hurt himself. The loud boom of thunder halted her, as she looked towards the sky, seeing only leaves above her.

She cautiously continued making her way through the trees, and soon found herself entering a lush field, spanning far past her line of sight. What she could see, however, was covered flowers, ranging from muted blues and pale pinks, to deep purple, all the way into bright oranges and bizarre neon. She also realized that the sky had become dark; the sun was no longer spanning through the sky, but replaced by a small section of moon. "No" she murmured to herself, dazed. She sat down by the nearest tree, looking around slowly. She _knew_ this wasn't here; she had been to this park plenty of times, and had explored the entire stretch of land. There was no such field, and if there was, she definitely would have found it before now. She sat there, confused, scared, and, at the back of her mind, worrying about the mysterious boy that was surely lost around here as well.

"A human girl?" A quiet, curious voice sounded above her, and Sakura looked up to see a pair of odd, red eyes staring back at her. It was a man, perhaps a few years older than herself, staring down at her. " It's dangerous to linger here" he grabbed her hand, firmly, and began pulling her to her feet.

"What-"

" I know of a place you may stay. Will you follow?" He looked at her again, locking eyes with the small pinkette. She looked away from him, and was startled to see a multitude of eyes staring at her from the field. They were inhuman, and they were filled with such malice and blood lust that she quickly grabbed the man's hand and stood.

"Sure.." Sakura stared at the man as he walked next to her. She new she shouldn't stare, or, at least, could be less obvious but...he was beautiful. His hair was dark, almost impossible to see if not for the moonlight illuminating him just so. His face seemed...perfect, made all the more beautiful by the deep lines down his face, contrasting with his pale skin. She trailed after the man, her mind creating stories behind those odd facial markings, her hands unconsciously reaching for her notebook to write it all down. She pulled a long forgotten pen out from behind her ear, and began slowly trailing behind the man as she filled the pages with her words almost frantically. She needed to write the words down; they demanded to be recorded, expressed somehow.

"...but it is the flaw that brings out the beauty? Interesting.." Sakura almost tripped as she turned around to find the man standing behind her, tugging the notebook from her hand. She went to grab it, but the man grabbed her wrist with the other hand, as he continued to walk forward, this time while flipping through the pages of the book. He was holding it with one hand, and propping it inside his arm, an odd but effective way to both embarrass the poor writer and keep progressing. They walked in silence like this for awhile, until he closed the notebook. " You're quite good" he commented, putting the notebook back into her bag and looking back ahead of them. " Though I must say, you're also quite...naive. The words flowed gracefully, the descriptions were sound but" he paused for a minute, glancing back at her "all of the characters were saintly, hearts of gold that leave much to be desired."

Sakura was instantly on the defensive "The stories aren't done yet!" she replied crossly. She crossed her arms and looked away from those eyes for a moment. They had journeyed (quite quickly, she noticed) out of the strange flowers and into a more wild terrain. The grass was grown in tall patches, with voids filled with little, black circles sitting between them. While she watched, a butterfly landed on one, and with a great lurch, the sphere unfurled into a scaly little creature, who grabbed the poor creature and gnashed it between its sharp, angular jaw. It glared up at the girl, it's eyes deep, oily pits of black. She immediately sped up, reaching the man who had reached the end of the grasslands and was awaiting her arrival.

She looked past him to see a hill, not far away, covered in moss and rocks. It was surrounding by odd pillars, laying haphazardly around the area. The ground was littered with odd, burgundy buds, with ugly thin petals coating the ground. It wasn't very appealing, but it held a mysterious allure that tugged at the artist in her, and worried at the back of her mind, the part that worried about the strange man, and the strange place she found herself in. The man held out his hand to her, but first...

"What's your name?" She didn't feel comfortable following the man any further until she got a name; in fact, it was odd she followed him without asking to begin with. Why hadn't she? Something was bothering her, she just needed to-

"Itachi. Now, may we?" He held his hand out a bit further, and she complied. He led her towards the bizarre hill and was surprised to see the young boy from earlier standing next to it, looking...blank. When he saw the the two heading his way, his eyes cleared and a grin pasted itself to his face. He gestured to the hill behind him, and Itachi began to walk _through_ it, leaving ripple in the scene in front of her. Sakura stood in front of the hill, until the boy grabbed her hand, and then-

It was odd to think that she was inside of a hill. It certainly didn't look like what one would assume a hill would look like on the inside. The entryway spanned out in a huge circle, the walls luminous, blinding white, while the ceiling spanned upwards in a dome, depicting a beautiful mural, with a myriad of creatures spread across it. The room below was barely covered, a dark green rug covering a small portion of the ground, while a throne made of vines sat behind it. Other than that, the room was bare, of both decorations and people. A door stood hidden beyond the throne, and Sakura followed the young blond through it to find Itachi exiting a room nearby, with a stone bowl in his hand.

He held the bowl towards her, and offered up a bowl of strawberries. They were beautiful, full and plump and deeply colored. Sakura accepted a berry, and ate the delicious fruit with relish.

Most of her time, after entering the hill, were spent with Itachi. He enjoyed the stories she wrote, and gave her parchment and writing utensils to write whenever she wished. They spent time talking with each other, and, for the most part, he was interesting company. When the man couldn't entertain her, the blond boy, Caleb, spent time with her, telling her stories and drawing amazing illustrations to go along with them. Today, he told her of his beginnings.

"I had been painting for awhile, ya'know? It was something I was good at, that I didn't have to share with my brother." Caleb and Sakura sat in the library, Sakura looking over his shoulder, watching him sketch out a boy with a face like his, waving out at the viewer. "And Sasori had seen my talent. He saw what my family didn't. So, he took me away, so-"

"Wait" Sakura interrupted, "he kidnapped you?" She stared at him, but he continued drawing.

"No. He took me away to something better." His sketch became darker, as he began putting more pressure on his pencil. "Sasori helped me. He always helps" Caleb stood up and began to leave the room, leaving his drawing abandoned on the floor, an X covering his brother's face.

* * *

Caleb avoided Sakura after that, and, unfortunately, it gave her time to be alone with her thoughts. And the longer she thought, the angrier she became. Caleb was taken from his family, by this 'Sasori' man, and Caleb didn't seem to understand that. Sasori needed to be brought to justice, to bring Caleb back to his family; surely Itachi would help her bring Caleb back. Back...she needed to return as well. She had friends and a family missing her as well.

Itachi, however, seemed unconcerned. "I'll talk to the boy. Go back to writing, a good story will help relieve your homesickness." He reached over and plucked another bowl from next to him, and held it out to her. " Or perhaps you're hungry?" But as she looked into the bowl, she saw shimmering sapphire berries shinning back at her. She stepped back from the bowl, alarmed.

"What are those?" Itachi turned to her then, putting the bowl back down.

"Do you feel well? Look here." Sakura was distracted though, by the room around her. The familiar circular main room didn't look so similar anymore. The walls looks bright as always, but the green carpet became a bed of thorns, covered with blood, and the mural on the ceiling was filled with gleeful looking monsters slaughtering other fearsome looking creatures in a macrabe caricature of a festival. And now, in the center of the painting sat a queen, cruelly carving into an artist, painting the insanity with a drunken, pleased expression upon his face. Itachi attempted to gain her attention, but she was too far gone. She began running towards the door, to leaving that horrific painting behind, to leave everything behind, but something stabbed her before she could reach the door. She turned, and saw the glint of wire piercing her shoulder.

She turned further, and saw a large group of people staring at her, one being a red haired man holding wires in his hand. The group began talking to Itachi, who was looking towards her, annoyed.

"You should have been more careful"

"Pink? What an odd color"

"So this is you little writer, Itachi, un?"  
They continued speaking, and Sakura began to search for a way to remove the wire when, to her horror, burrowed deeper. She shrieked and fell to the floor, as footsteps closed in on her. It was the red haired man.

"Let go" she whispered, the pain overwhelming her. He simply stared, unsympathetic, and turned to Itachi, who had emerged from the group, and was walking over, He nodded, and, in seconds, the wire was removed and the man had walked away.

"I have been quite kind to you, keeping your little storybook sweetness shape this place. And you attempt to run." His voice was cold, and it chilled her blood. She attempted to move away, but he gripped her chin and turned her gaze toward his. "it's better this way, I suppose." His eyes, those deadly eyes, began spinning, and Sakura was lost. Her eyes lost their fright, filling with bliss, as her body grew less tense, and she gripped his sleeve.

"I must be going" she said, with a smile on her face, getting up and walking over towards the door behind the throne. "I have an idea for a story. I hope you'll like it."

* * *

Well...that was morbid...I'm terribly sorry :/ This is one of, if not the, longest oneshot I've written, and honestly? It was supposed to be A LOT longer...and completely different. However, I ran into some trouble and, long story short, here we are! A lot of my basis for this was from the book _Tithe_ by Holly Black, and I used a quote in the story...so I don't own it. I'll probably clean this up more later, but I'm burned out right now. Side note: "Monster" by meg and Dia? Yeah, I listened to that a lot while I was writing this...just saying.


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